Several possibilities of blood in the stool:
To distinguish these different types of blood in the stool, we must start with the "true" and "false" distinctions of blood in the stool.
True blood in the stool
Digestive tract causes of blood in the stool: The main cause of gastrointestinal blood in the stool is bleeding from the esophagus, stomach, and intestinal tract. Because the iron in hemoglobin combines with sulfide in the intestine to form iron sulfide, the stool can appear in various colors such as dark red (jam color), tar-like, etc. It is called "melena" and is generally considered to be in the digestive tract. Black stool occurs when the amount of bleeding exceeds 50 ml.
Anorectal diseases and blood in the stool:
⑴ Hemorrhoids and blood in the stool: Blood in the stool caused by hemorrhoids is mostly painless and is often intermittent bleeding after defecation. Patients often drip blood into the toilet, which does not mix with the feces. Severe cases may cause spurt-like bleeding, which may be caused by excessive force during defecation and rupture of the mucous membrane. Generally, bleeding after bowel movements will stop on its own.
⑵ Anal fissure bleeding: Most patients with anal fissure bleed during defecation, mostly blood, and the amount of bleeding is not large. Sometimes the toilet paper is stained with blood, or blood adheres to the surface of the feces. This is mainly caused by feces bruising the small blood vessels on the ulcer surface.
⑶ Colorectal cancer and blood in the stool: Colorectal cancer is also one of the most common diseases that causes bleeding in the stool. Blood in the stool that occurs in the early stages of colorectal cancer will appear as a small amount of blood covering the surface of the stool. As the disease progresses, the amount of blood in the stool will gradually increase.
⑷ Rectal cancer blood in the stool: Rectal cancer blood in the stool is more common in middle-aged and elderly people, and the stool is often mixed with pus, blood, mucus or rancid secretions.
Fake blood in the stool
Sometimes the stool becomes discolored after eating certain foods and medicines. For example, after taking blood-enhancing iron supplements, carbon powder, bismuth, Chinese herbal medicine, or eating pig liver, animal blood, tomatoes, beets and other foods, the stool may be dark brown, black or red. Sometimes bleeding from the mouth or nose can cause a change in the color of the stool if swallowed. These are so-called false hematochezia, and the "bloody stools" will disappear after stopping medications and food.
Having clearly seen the difference between true and false blood in the stool, when these situations occur, you must recognize your own situation so that you can go to the hospital for emergency treatment. In addition, in addition to the common diseases mentioned above, rectal polyps, ulcerative colitis, rectal hemangioma, diverticular disease, familial polyposis, etc. can also cause varying degrees of blood in the stool.
Blood excreted with the feces or mixed with the feces is called hematochezia. Whether it is blood before or after defecation, bleeding, bleeding or pus, anything that can be seen by the naked eye is called overt bleeding. . Depending on the location of the bleeding, the amount of bleeding, and the time it stays in the intestine, the color of bloody stools can appear bright red, blood clots, dark red, jam color, or black. The lower the bleeding site, the greater the amount of bleeding, and the faster the discharge, the redder the stool will be. On the contrary, it will gradually become darker and even turn into black stool. If the amount of bleeding is very small and invisible to the naked eye, the color of the stool may be normal, and it cannot be discovered until a test is performed, which is called occult bleeding or occult blood. Bleeding in anorectal diseases mostly comes from lesions in the colon, rectum and anal canal area, including inflammatory, vascular, tumor and mechanical bleeding.
It is recommended that you go to a specialist hospital for examination.